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Flat Hunting Sucks

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So now that I’ve got the job situation sorted for the moment, I’ve now got to find a new place to live.

Yeah I know.. If it’s not one thing, it’s another with me these days. 😉

The day I was offered my new job, I also found out I have to move. The older couple I rent my room from received a letter from the landlady that they were going to take possession of the flat again. In other works, move back into the flat themselves instead of renting it out again.

Basically it’s the standard excuse when a landlord wants a tenant to move out for whatever reason before the end of the current lease.

The guys seemed surprised they were being asked to move after over 3 years of living here since, in their eyes, they’ve been great tenants.

Of course I don’t know the whole story… And to be honest, it’s really none of my business per se, except now I have to move as well. The little I did find out from them is that they haven’t always been that good with paying the entire rent on time for whatever reason.

It does make me wonder where the rent I’ve been paying has been going. I’ve always ensured my rent was paid in full and on time despite my unemployment and my benefits not fully covering the rent. Not to mention that there are two of them and only one of me.

But again, not my problem. If they haven’t been paying the rent on time or in full, then it’s them that could potentially get in trouble for that, not me since the landlady doesn’t even know I’m there (they weren’t supposed to sublet the second bedroom out apparently..).

So now I’ve got the fun job of trying to find a new place to live as soon as I can. The letter they received did give them until mid-October, but they’ve put a bid on a place that they’d be looking to move into by end of August or beginning of September and are hoping the landlady will let them move out sooner.

Though I think they’ll get a nasty shock when the landlady demands for the rent for the rest of the time. I’m glad they were agreeable to use my deposit for August’s rent instead of waiting until I move out, as who knows if they’d have the money then (not that they do now either..).

Yes ‘M’, I took your advice.. lol

They did ask if I’d be interested in moving with them, but I’m very reluctant to do so. I thought about it and even went to see a couple flats with them, but I’ve wanted to move out for about a year now for a variety of reasons. I only haven’t sooner since it would have been difficult with my not working and trying to find a place that would accept someone on benefits.

When I got this new job I was hoping to stay there for at least a couple months before I started looking for a new place to live, but whatever.. It is what it is.

It hasn’t been easy… Since I’m on a much lower salary than I was at my previous job, I’m trying to find something I can afford that is basically walking distance to Vauxhall so I don’t have to worry about transport costs. The problem with that is it’s not exactly cheap to live around this area.

I’ve found a bunch of ads that are kind of within my price range, but are again renting a room in flatshare with strangers. I’ve replied to a bunch of these ads, as well as placing an ad myself on Spareroom.co.uk, but have only had a handful of responses.

I’d hoped to find a somewhat decent studio to live in by myself, but all of these seem to be too expensive, too far away from Vauxhall, or are complete shit-holes. Or all of the above.

How people can consider a small basic room with a hot plate and a shared washroom a flat is beyond me. These are called bed-sits here in the UK.. to me that’s just another flatshare..

The bedsits I’ve seen don’t look this NICE..

I wish I could find a place like the studio flat I had back in Montreal. It had a nice big living area with room for a double bed, full couch, computer desk, tv stand, coffee table.. and still had room left to store my bike, and possibly could have had a small dining table as well. It wasn’t the best building, but it was home for just over 2 years.

Admittedly, you’d be lucky to find some full on 1 bedroom flats that were that size here in London, and they’d probably be expensive as hell.

If I could afford it, I would move farther out and commute into work but that just wouldn’t be possible on this salary with all the bills I now need to catch up on. I need to keep my costs as low as I can now (or at least until I can get a promotion and move up at work..). Even if it was a simple bus commute I’d be okay with that since I still have my Job Seeker bus & tram discount for the next few months.

Well I guess we’ll see how it goes.. and hopefully I can find somewhere asap.

Hey there, my blogging buddy! The move can be exciting, adventurous and lead to meeting new people. I hope things get better soon but at the moment you have a new job to keep you focused. I thought for certain that you’d be CEO by now! LOL! Love you, man! Naked hugs and best wishes!

Nah, figure I’d give it a couple weeks before I try for CEO. 😉 To be honest, I’ve literally got 4 weeks to find a new place.. and yeah it can be exciting moving with someone new, but still a pain since I’m not having much luck finding anything. But am sure it’ll get better soon. 😀